Donetsk republic to set up fund to restore churches in east Ukraine - official

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic will set up a fund to restore churches destroyed in the war in eastern Ukraine, the parliamentary speaker of the republic said on Tuesday.

"Both executive authorities and charitable organisations will be involved in the fund’s activities," Andrei Purgin was quoted by the Donetsk news agency as saying. "We will restore only those churches where repairs are possible. If a sanctuary is badly damaged, a new church will be built in its place."

According to the Donetsk Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, some 72 Orthodox places of worship were damaged and another ten completely destroyed during months of fighting between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias.